1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to rotary power generator devices and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a windmill generator device whereby the rotary motion of the wind operated unit is converted into rotary motion of a power drive shaft in a single direction regardless of the direction of rotation of the wind operated rotary unit.
2. History of the Prior Art
For many years, windmills have been used for the generation of electricity, the pumping of water from wells and for pumping of irrigation waters and the like. Windmills in Holland have been used as grist mills and in essence man has been attempting to harness the power of the wind for useful purposes, but with limited success.
Typically, in the generation of electricity, a generator is secured to a windmill on a rotary pedestal so that the windmill may be automatically rotated to follow the direction of the wind.
However, one of the problems in utilizing a windmill for power generation is that one windmill is usually insufficient to provide the necessary torque to operate a generator of any size. One attempted solution of this problem has been the construction of windmills with blades up to fifty feet in length, which requires very costly structure for their support thereby rendering such units economically unfeasible.
Another solution is to secure windmills together, each having a small generator, which are electrically connected to produce the desired electrical current. This requires either electrically aligning the phase of each generator or rectifying the electrical current of each generator before combining or ganging the output thereof.
The problems are further compounded by the fact that several windmills, even located in the same general vicinity, will rotate at different speeds. Hence, the use of windmills for the generation of power other than on a small scale has met with only limited success.